life preserver

American  

noun

1. a buoyant jacket, belt, or other like device for keeping a person afloat.

2. British Slang. a weapon, especially a short stick with a weighted head; blackjack.

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life preserver British  

noun

1. a club or bludgeon, esp one kept for self-defence

2. a life belt or life jacket

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Etymology

Origin of life preserver

First recorded in 1630–40

Example Sentences

From what we see of Scotty in flashbacks, he was a buoyant blond goofball — exactly the kind of guy that the apparently friendless and family-less Kenna would have clung to like a life preserver.

From Los Angeles Times

The brook flowed past the ruins of that school, and in it were all of the teachers, the principal, and the secretary, too, wearing life preservers, on their way to Canada.

From Literature

Akira grabbed on to the podium like it was a life preserver, and stood there uneasily for a long moment after the applause had stopped.

From Literature

I let myself play the victim twice — first of the debt itself, then of the life preserver tossed to bring me back onboard.

From Salon

In a tempest of tragedy, basketball was his life preserver.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• life jacket
• life vest